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Dental Items of Interest 

to the 
Citizens of Bridgeport 




Presented by 

The Dental Department 

of the 

Bridgeport Board of Health 







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THE DENTAL HYGIENISTS IN OUR SCHOOLS. 

For years, the one chief endeavor in the school systems 
throughout this country has been to develop and educate the 
child's brain and little or no attention has been given to his body. 

Good mental development is dependent upon a sound and 
healthy body. It has been generally considered by educational 
boards that the body of the child should be entirely under the 
supervision of the parents and that it was not the affair of the 
school authorities to do anything to correct or prevent physical 
defects. If the war has done nothing else it has shown us the 
fallacy of such a position. The findings of the draft boards have 
proven beyond any doubt that the school children must have 
medical inspection, education and aid in the correction and pre- 
vention of diseased and defective bodies. 

The most common and conspicuous physical defect of the 
child is his teeth. For five years the city of Bridgeport has had an 
educational and preventive dental clinic for its school children. 
The corps of women dentists, supervisors and dental hygienists 
have been working under the Board of Health to stamp out, if 
possible, decayed teeth and unclean mouths. This corps is doing 
a wonderful work in our schools for the physical betterment of 
our children. We believe that the time is rapidly approaching in 
this state when every city and town will feel that it is necessary to 
have three distinct departments in its school system. First, the 
department for the mental development of the child, embracing 
the work undertaken by the school teachers. Second, the depart- 
ment for the physical development of the child in which the 
hygienist may teach the laws of health and aid him in the preven- 
tion of disease. Third, the medical department in which the school 
nurse may inspect and treat the minor afflictions and exclude or 
refer to the physician the more serious ailments. By a coordina- 
tion of these departments the health and intelligence of our citizen- 
ship would be much advanced. 

THE SCHOOL DENTISTS. 

The great majority of children from five to six years of age 
have from one to four of the first permanent molars, commonly 
called six year molars, when they first enter school. These teeth 
erupt back of the baby or deciduous teeth and for this reason are 
seldom recognized by the mother as permanent teeth. 



In our examination of the mouths of these first grade children 
it is exceptional to find the permanent molars in a sound, healthy 
condition. The grooves or fissures in many of these teeth are be- 
ginning to soften or decay. In order that all the children may 
enter our system of education and prevention of dental decay on 
the same basis, we provide for the filling of the first small cavities 
in the six year molars. Three women dentists devote their entire 
time to this work. They have portable equipments and travel 
from school to school, filling the first permanent molars for any 
child in the first or second grades. In the past four years they have 
filled hundreds of these molars where decay was just starting and 
this important service can hardly be fully appreciated except by 
those who know the evil effects produced by the destruction and 
loss of these most important teeth. We consider the preservation 
of the six year molar one of the most important parts of our pre- 
ventive work. No effort is made to do general reparative dentistry 
in the school buildings. 

The following article describes the effort of the city to pro- 
vide good dentistry at an exceedingly nominal fee to those whose 
incomes will not permit them to obtain the services of a dentist in 
private practice. 

A Wonderful Chance for the Wage-Earner and Family to 
Secure Good Dentistry. 

High grade professional service, whether it be medicine, den- 
tistry or law, must be considered as a luxury to the great mass of 
wage earning people in our city and one which they cannot afford. 
This is especially true of good dentistry. Cheap dentistry is apt to 
be more harmful than beneficial, for if the operations on the teeth 
are performed hastily and in an unscientific manner, serious com- 
plications may develop within the body, due to bacteria gaining 
entrance through the roots of the teeth or through the soft tissues 
which surround them. 

There are hundreds of families in this city where the income 
is not sufficiently large to afford the services of a good dentist and 
yet they would like to save their teeth if possible. Decayed and 
diseased teeth produce much sickness and lower the efficiency and 
endurance of the workers. In a city like Bridgeport this becomes 
a serious health problem and must be met in a practical manner. 
Charity, which gives something of value for nothing, is not con- 
ducive to character building or good citizenship, and he who 
accepts it should be in desperate need of aid. 



Realizing these facts the city of Bridgeport has placed a 
dental department in the Welfare Building, at the corner of Madi- 
son and Washington Avenues, which is accessible to the wage 
earner and his family, especially the children. It is not the inten- 
tion of this department to give free dental service, except for the 
relief of pain to those who are too poor to pay for it, but to estab- 
lish a clinic where first class dentistry may be secured at a very 
moderate cost and be within the means of all whose incomes are 
too small to enable them to go or send their children to a dentist 
in private practice. It is a movement to help those who are willing 
and anxious to help themselves, and the citizens, both little and 
big, who are eligible and avail themselves of this wonderful oppor- 
tunity must not feel that they are accepting a charity in any way. 
Many people have secured an education after they were twenty 
years of age, but no one can secure a new body. Do not let your 
children's teeth go to pieces and become lost. It means too much 
to their future health and happiness. 

RULES FOR ENTRANCE AND FEES. 

Those who do not own their own homes and whose incomes 
do not exceed six dollars per week per capita are eligible for en- 
trance. (For example: A family consisting of four members 
whose combined incomes amount to $24 per week, or less, would 
be eligible.) 

The admission fee is ten cents and the admission card to the 
dental department is good for sixty days. 

The fees for services are as follows and must be paid each 
time the work is done. 

Examination — ten cents. 

Cleaning — twenty-five cents to one dollar. (Children will 
average twenty-five cents). 

Extracting — twenty-five cents. With anesthetic, (thirty-five 
cents). 

Treating — twenty-five cents. 

Fillings 

Alloy — twenty-five cents to one dollar. (Children will aver- 
age twenty-five cents.) 

Gutta percha — twenty cents. 

Cement — twenty-five cents. 

Silicate Cement — twenty-five cents to one dollar. 

Those who are too poor to pay anything for this service must 
apply to the Charities Department for entrance. 




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THE MONEY VALUE OF EDUCATION. 

You boys who are fourteen years of age and think of leaving 
school, read this page carefully and think it over. 

You have said to yourselves time and again "What is the use 
of my staying in school any longer now when I can earn money 
by working?" And the answer is ; "Your earning power depends 
upon how highly your brain is educated. Every year you stay in 
school after fourteen your earning power is increased." This is 
not a matter of guess work, it has been proven time and again. 
Read carefully these tables published by the United States Bureau 
of Education. If you are not obliged to leave school, stay in as 
long as you can. It will more than pay you. 

THE PHYSICAL VALUE OF EDUCATION. 

Do many of the boys and girls leaving school at fourteen 
years of age know how important it is to have a sound body and 
good health ? Have they received sufficient education at this early 
period to fully appreciate that their happiness and success in life 
depends in no small degree on their freedom from sickness, and 
that sickness is usually contracted through ignorance? Do they 
know that with their limited education they will not be able to 
understand the laws of health? 

Who are the poor and the objects of charity? Chiefly those 
who left school when they were young and their lack of education 
and knowledge has prevented them from working and living in- 
telligently. In their ignorance they eat and drink things that are 
harmful, they develop habits of uncleanliness that produce sick- 
ness, they allow their teeth to decay, and the things that appeal to 
them most are the physical pleasures of life and excitement. These 
are blunt truths, but frequently it is wise to state the truth as it 
sometimes sets the public thinking. It is only through education 
that the prevention of disease can be brought about. The greater 
number of years that the children can be induced to remain in 
school will determine, in a great measure, the good health records 
of our city and of our state. But to the boy who is anxious to go 
to work at fourteen and to whom the subject of health and a sound 
body does not appeal just now, we would call his attention to the 
next page. 



"The Money Value ol Edui 



WHAT FOUR YEARS 
IN SCHOOL PAID 

WAGES OF TWO GROUPS BROOKLYN CITIZENS 



Those who left Those who left 

School at 14 School at 18 
(Yearly Salary) (Yearly Salary) 



When 14 Years of Age 

'" 16 

" 18 

" 20 

" 22 

" 24 

" 25 





Total Salary 1 1 years 5112.50 
Total Salary 7 years 



7337.50 



Notice that at 25 years of age the better 
educated boys are receiving $900 
per year more salary, and have al- 
ready, in 7 years, received $2250 
more than the boys who left school 
at 14 years have received for eleven 
years' work. 

IT PAYS 
TO CONTINUE YOUR STUDIES 



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Ion" published by the United States Bureau oi Education 



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WHAT INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 
PAID 215 BOYS 




/625 



( 

/ 
/ 
t 
t 

/ 
t 
/ 
I J 650 



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AGE 14. 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Z5 

The solid black columns represent the average,, 
yearly wage received by 584 children who left 
school at 14 years of age. 

The hatched columns represent the average 
wage received by 215 boys who remained in tech- 
nical schools till eighteen years of age. 

Note that the technical-school students 
surpass the shop-trained boys from 
the beginning, and at 25 years of age 
are receiving $900 per year higher 
salary. 



DISTINGUISHED MEN OF AMERICA 
AND THEIR EDUCATION 



With no schooling, 

of 5 million, only 31 attained distinction. 



With elementary schooling, 

of 33 million, 808 attained distinction. 



With High School education, 

of 2 million, 1245 attained distinction. 



With College education, 

of 1 million, 5768 attained distinction. 

The child with no schooling has one 
chance in 150,000 of performing distin- 
guished service, with elementary educa- 
tion! he has four times the chance, with 
High School education 87 times the 
chance, with College education 800 times 
the chance. 

WHAT IS YOUR CHILD'S CHANCE? 



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10 

WHAT CAN A MOTHER DO TO PREVENT HER CHILD 
FROM HAVING DECAYED TEETH? 

This question has been asked from time to time by people, 
who having suffered from the evils of decayed and infected teeth, 
pyorrhea, etc., have resolved to do all in their power to guard their 
children from any unnecessary suffering and disease. The follow- 
ing is an outline of a course of prevention that is considered most 
efficient in the light of our present understanding of dental decay, 
infected teeth, malformation of the jaws and irregular teeth, 
pyorrhea, etc. 

One of the factors to be considered is heredity. It is quite 
reasonable to believe that if the parents and grandparents of a child 
had good dentures, its inheritance would be far more favorable 
than that of a child whose parents had neglected mouths and de- 
cayed teeth. Unfortunately, a mother has no direct control over 
the kind of teeth her child inherits but she can have an influence in 
making the tooth inheritance of her great-grandchildren a desir- 
able one. Aside from this the two controlling factors are diet and 
extreme cleanliness. 

During babyhood the matter of diet is not complicated since 
milk embodies all that is necessary. The utmost care must be ex- 
ercised as a child reaches the age when milk does not meet all the 
requirements of the body. Even at this early stage it is necessary 
to warn against the feeding of any free sugar, either cooked in 
foods or upon cereals, etc. This, no doubt, seems very radical. 
People have been accustomed to reason that free sugar was a food 
and that a certain amount of it must be consumed. This idea is 
erroneous because nature has provided all the sugar that the body 
needs in various foods such as milk, fruits, some of the vegetables, 
etc., besides ordaining that all starchy foods, as potatoes, bread, 
macaroni, rice, etc., be changed into sugar in the digestive process. 
The excessive consumption of free sugar that is so common 
among the English, French and Americans is undoubtedly why 
they have poorer teeth than any other people, while the native 
Italians, Armenians, Greeks, etc., who eat the same foods as we 
do, with the exception of so much sugar, are practically immune 
from dental decay. People like the Eskimos, African Negroes, 
natives of New Zealand, etc., who have never tasted sugar hardly 
know what a decayed tooth is, in spite of the fact that they do not 
know what a tooth brush is either. 

Many people who are excessive sweet eaters develop a crav- 
ing for sugar that is analogous to the craving that habitual drinkers 



11 

have for alcohol, and, in fact, the theory has been advanced that 
the fermentation of excessive sugar in the intestines frequently 
produces alcohol and is absorbed as such, and that what the candy 
fiend really craves is the alcoholic stimulus obtained in this man- 
ner. 

In view of the foregoing, it does not seem unreasonable to 
assume that a mother, knowing these things, would make an 
effort to limit or exclude free sugar from the diet. 

Aside from the elimination of free sugar, fresh, white bread 
and soft crackers must be avoided and in their place should be the 
hard, whole-wheat breads, zwieback, Swedish bread, toast or 
even stale white bread. The soft pappy foods which constitute 
the bulk of the diet of younger children require so little mastica- 
tion and tend to form in sticky particles about the teeth, offering 
the most ideal conditions for dental caries. 

Aside from this the failure to provide foods which require 
thorough mastication is a very serious thing. The normal de- 
velopment of the jaws, face and even the brain case itself is de- 
pendent upon thorough mastication. It also stimulates a copious 
flow of saliva to begin the digestion of foods in the mouth. It 
can be readily understood that hard, coarse foods are most sensible 
for many reasons. 

During the time that the temporary and permanent teeth are 
forming and the bony structure of the body is being built up, the 
body needs a large amount of calcium salts. In fact, calcium salt 
is the very foundation of tooth structure, and the amount of cal- 
cium available for use in tooth formation regulates whether the 
enamel of the tooth is hard and dense or relatively soft and porous. 

Especial emphasis should be placed on foods that are high 
in calcium content as soon as the temporary teeth begin to erupt. 
Some of the most important of these foods are milk, butter milk, 
cheese, celery, spinach, turnips, radishes, string beans, kidney 
beans, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, carrots, etc. 

No attempt has been made to prescribe a diet for a child, but 
simply to emphasize certain points in regard to diet that might be 
overlooked. Plenty of fresh fruit, eggs, a little meat and fish are 
also necessary. Cereals should be given but once a day, and one 
particular kind should not be continued for a long period. There 
is a large variety of cooked cereals which can be used. 

It is not generally known that the contagious skin diseases, 
if contracted during childhood, bear a direct influence on the 
enamel of the teeth. Many mothers are inclined to look upon the 
common skin diseases of childhood as something that cannot be 




12 

avoided, and frequently no effort is made to prevent these diseases 
since it is felt that the younger a child is when it contracts the 
disease, the lighter the attack. 

. \ .. .:,,;.; :> . r / v It is not generally known that the 

enamel of the teeth is formed from 
similar cells as the skin and that any 
eruption or rash of the skin is likely 
to effect the formation of the enamel 
if it occurs during the period of enamel 

Pitted enamel surfaces caused by C„„^ n *-:^„ 
prolonged skin disease formation. 

Every precaution should be taken to prevent a child from 
contracting measles, chicken pox, scarlet fever, etc., especially 
from birth to about fourteen years of age, during which period the 
enamel of fifty-two teeth is formed. 

It is quite common to see teeth with an enamel surface that 
is pitted or grooved, and in many cases as much as half of the 
crown of a tooth will be minus any enamel due to some skin dis- 
turbance during its formation. Enamel somewhat similar in 
appearance can also be produced by any severe nutritional distur- 
bance. It is practically impossible to prevent the decay of this 
defective enamel and any rash or eruption of the skin should be 
avoided for this reason. 

In regard to the other factor — extreme cleanliness — the re- 
sponsibility must rest upon the mother until the habit of mouth 
cleansing has been definitely formed and the child can be de- 
pended upon to do it thoroughly. Before the temporary teeth 
erupt the mouth should be swabbed with sterile cotton saturated 
with boric acid. This procedure is necessary both before and after 
feeding in order that the membrane of the mouth may be free of 
any particles of souring milk. This method can be continued 
until there are sufficient teeth to permit the use of a small, soft 
brush with a fine powder or paste, after each meal. When most 
of the temporary teeth are in place a fine thread or floss should 
also be used between the teeth to remove the food particles that 
cling so readily to these surfaces. 

The preservation of the temporary teeth until they are lost 
naturally is most important and even the most rigid home care of 
the mouth must be augmented by a rubbing and polishing of all 
the tooth surfaces by a dentist or dental hygienist, at intervals of 
not longer than three months. The time to begin this prophylactic 
treatment is about three years of age. 

A prophylactic treatment consists in the polishing by hand 
of every tooth surface to remove the glue-like accumulations, or 



13 

placques, which form on the teeth. The placque is the initial step 
of dental decay and its thorough removal is the only insurance 
against cavities. The treatment is pleasant and a tactful operator 
can so readily secure the interest and confidence of a small child 
that the frequent visits to the dentist become a pleasure to both 
the child and the dentist. 

At six years of age the first permanent molar teeth erupt 
back of all the temporary teeth. This molar is seldom recognized 
as a permanent tooth because it does not replace a deciduous 
tooth. It is by far the most important tooth in the denture and is 
commonly lost in early youth because the grooves or fissures in 
the chewing surface are not perfectly formed. The great demand 
of the body for calcium salts at the period of the formation of this 
tooth frequently results in the lack of complete union of the 
enamel plates on the chewing surface, offering deep grooves for 
the lodgement of food and formation of cavities. The simple pre- 
ventive measure of filling these fissures with cement will help to 
eliminate the possibility of decay. This operation is necessary in 
the mouths of most children and the regular prophylactic treat- 
ments pave the way for this simple procedure because the element 
of fear of the dentist is absolutely lacking in the child. 

As the child reaches an age to understand the process of 
rinsing the mouth without swallowing, a mouthwash prepared of 
coarse lime such as masons use for making coarse plaster, should 
be provided. 

By the time the permanent teeth are erupting the care of the 
mouth consists in the brushing before breakfast with clear water 
and after each meal with a paste or powder, followed by the use 
of dental floss and lime water mouth wash. When this regime is 
faithfully carried out and is augmented by the prescribed diet 
and prophylactic treatments, a mother has secured for her child 
the greatest health insurance possible — a clean mouth and sound 
teeth. 

THE CAUSES OF MALOCCLUSION. 

How many times we hear people exclaiming over the even, 
straight teeth of some person they have seen, and yet if nature was 
not hindered in many ways, irregular teeth, instead of being so 
very common, would come to be regarded as a great deformity. 
It is considered quite a calamity for a child to have crossed eyes 
or bowed legs, while crooked teeth have become so common that 
we are constantly noticing, as an unusual thing, a regular set of 
teeth. 



14 

Normally the teeth of the upper jaw strike a little outside of 
the lower teeth and practically every tooth strikes against two 
other teeth. Normal occlusion is the correct way the teeth of one 
jaw mesh or strike with the teeth of the opposite jaw, and any 
perversion of this relationship is termed malocclusion. 

The great majority of cases of malocclusion of the teeth 
could be prevented if people were not so ignorant of the factors 
which cause them. So many times a habit contracted in baby- 
hood will produce malocclusion and destroy the normal symmetri- 
cal lines of the face, with the result that a pretty baby develops in- 
to a very unattractive looking adult. The most common habit is 
that of sucking the thumb or fingers. The popular fallacy that a 
thumb-sucking baby will be a good baby would not be so popular 
if it were known that this habit results, frequently, in a receding 
chin which is popularly supposed to denote a weak and vacillating 
character. Other pernicious habits, such as sucking the lips or 
tongue, or the use of a "pacifier* ' bring about a malformation of 
the jaws. 

It is hard to realize how relatively soft and pliable the bones 
of the face are during childhood. If a child has, for any reason, 
become accustomed to breathing with the mouth open the con- 
stant tension of the muscles against the bones of the face is 
enough of a pressure to deform them. 

The evidences of the bad effects of these habits are often not 
apparent to the casual observer when looking at the temporary 
teeth and it is often difficult to make a mother believe that any 
harm is being done. 

The failure to provide hard, coarse foods that require 
thorough mastication is a very common cause of under develop- 
ment of the jaws, causing crowding and irregularity of the per- 
manent teeth. Children are fed soft, pappy foods which require 
little or no chewing and the bones and muscles of the face do not 
develop because of lack of use. 

The premature loss of any of the temporary teeth causes 
irregularity of the permanent teeth. Each temporary tooth is a 
sort of "reserved seat" for a permanent one which is sometimes 
twice as large, and its premature removal results in the closing of 
the space where the permanent tooth should normally erupt. It 
is also true that the loss of permanent teeth will destroy the occlu- 
sion. In fact, the removal of one tooth directly effects no less than 
four other teeth, for the teeth on either side of it will tip out of 
position while the occluding teeth will elongate. The loss of the 
first permanent molar, which erupts at six years of age is one of 



15 

the most frequent causes of malocclusion. These molars will nor- 
mally keep the jaws in proper relationship while the temporary 
teeth are being shed, but they are seldom recognized as permanent 
teeth and, consequently, neglected. Their loss will inevitably pro- 
duce a serious disarrangement of the whole chewing apparatus. 

While the science of regulating and straightening teeth has 
been developed quite extensively it is necessarily a careful, tedious 
and painstaking operation covering a period of years, and only the 
most skilled specialists are competent to do it. The expense of 
such an operation also makes it prohibitive to many people and 
children are forced to go through life with an imperfect masticat- 
ing machine and deformed faces. 

The prevention in most cases is the breaking of any per- 
nicious habit as mentioned and the preservation of the temporary 
teeth and first permanent molars. If the diet consists of foods 
requiring thorough mastication we can depend on nature, if un- 
hindered, to produce a set of regular teeth. 



Mouth deformed by the use 
of a baby comforter. 



The baby "pacifier" or com- 
forter has ruined many mouths 
and should never be given to 
a child. 








Mouth deformed by 
sucking fingers. 



Babies are often allowed to 
suck their fingers or thumbs and 
continue this habit over a period 
of several years. The presence 
of the fingers in the mouth and 
the force exerted by the child 
in sucking cause many very bad 
deformities. 



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